This week was not only MLK Day, but Roe v. Wade Day. Additionally, I lost another family member to cancer. In any case, there was a lot you should have read about:

Roe v. Wade Day/Abortion:Frances Kissling (formerly of CFFC) and Kate Michelman (formerly of NARAL) wrote an op-ed in the LA Times about abortion, and, really, the shift in perception around abortion. They say that one thing the pro-choice folks need to engage in is a discussion about the "challenges" of the movement, including the judgment of women for getting pregnant in the first place.

Saletan says that pro-choicers need to message abortion with the goal of zero, same as teen pregnancy.

Reproducing:Related to the LA Times op-ed, a study out about Indiana shows that about 80% of black babies are born to unwed mothers. Single mothers have lower levels of education and higher rates of poverty than married mothers, although that doesn't necessarily include those older single moms.

Italy has ruled that it is now legal to do pre-implantation genetic diagnosis of embryos. The ruling, applicable only to the Rome area, will be reviewed by a higher court. Also, don't forget, that in Italy only 3 embryos can be implanted at a time.

So while feminism opened up options for a lot of women, there was an ensuing backlash against feminism, and now there's this embrace of everything under the sun as feminism. Want to walk around with a dog collar being led by your boyfriend? Who's to say that's not feminist? Stripping? Feminist. Housewife? Totally feminist (not by all). I'm not about to make any statements about it right now, but it certainly seems to be a trend that the idea of "choice" whether related to feminism or abortion, is in the eye of the beholder. I mean, is one's choice really off bounds for social comment?

Science:The Pill has an extended effect on preventing ovarian cancer, the number one cause of gynecologic cancer deaths in the United States. Apparently, this is leading folks in the U.K. to renew a call to make the Pill available over-the-counter. Additionally, caffeine decreases the risk of ovarian cancer, while alcohol and tobacco use play no role in it.

As always, there's way more to blog about, but I have to get moving. Have a great weekend!

The papers are all abuzz with the recently-released study showing that abortion is down in the United States - at the lowest rate since abortion was Constitutionally protected. Since 1990, surgical abortions are down 25%. The decline in abortion could be positive (more access to contraception, fewer unplanned pregnancies) or negative (less access to abortion, less access to contraceptives) and part of it could be a substitute to RU-486 - we really don't know what's causing the decline. Read the full report (.pdf).

However, we do know that the US has higher fertility rates than other Western countries, due to "a decline in contraceptive use, a drop in access to abortion, poor education and poverty."

In other countries, the stigma of abortions, even legal ones, has led to a rise in illegal abortions, which, as you all know, are not safe. Both medical staff and patients feel this societal sting, and don't want to take part in it.
"It is poor women who cannot countenance another mouth to feed." The women who have the lowest access to medical care and education are the ones hardest hit by the criminalization of abortion.

Reproductive Rights:So, I guess this comes as a surprise, but women who have abortions think about the kind of life they could provide for a child, and the lives they want to provide for their existing children. I'm not sure how I feel about this report. I think it's still in that vein of "abortion is a hard decision" and tries to un-demonize women who have abortions.

I can't find the original article, but a letter to the editor in a Massachusetts newspaper criticizes a man whose girlfriends had four abortion for his "conversion" to anti-choice advocacy. The author writes that the man should have been responsible then, not now, and includes being responsible to mean sticking around. The author seems to imply that if men would stay with women more, they would continue their pregnancies, which I'm not so sure about. I do, however, agree that anti-choice advocates could emphasize the role of men in unplanned pregnancy as much as the abortion itself.

Kentucky is considering a bill that would require women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound. At my old clinic, every woman had an ultrasound, at the least, to measure fetal size/age. I would think that's important for knowledge of the type of abortion needed, the amount of drugs, etc. But I also am not a doctor, so I don't know. Nor is Senator Jack Westwood, so I don't know why he's bringing this up.

For information on what it's really like to be an abortion doctor, read "This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor" by two doctors from Montana.

In other state news, Tennessee is thinking about amending its Constitution to shrink abortion rights. The Constitution has been interpreted to provide greater abortion rights than the U.S. Constitution, and therefore invalidated a law requiring a waiting period. The amendment would read that nothing in the Tennessee Constitution protects a right to abortion.

The American College of Ob-Gyns has released a new ethics opinion on doctor refusals, calling for limits on conscientious refusals, especially those that impose religious or moral beliefs, or are not scientifically based.

Science & Health:Following a Mediterranean diet when pregnant lowers the risk for the babies to have asthma. That could be better worded, but it's not.

I'm reading this book called The Humble Little Condom, and I'm learning a little more about syphilis, which, apparently, Christopher Columbus brought back to Europe with him. The New World syphilis wasn't fatal, I guess, but it mutated somewhere along the way to a potentially deadly disease.

Generally, we know that young college-educated women are waiting to have children, and, often putting less emphasis on romantic relationships. Additionally, the idea that couples in love must get married is no longer a given, as almost half of Americans say they don't need a marriage certificate to prove their love. The Post writes about those who aren't waiting to have kids - but these are still women in their late 20s. My friend RJ & I wonder if the model of college/graduate school/marriage/family really works for women. We're in our 30s by the time we're having kids, with fertility issues, less energy, and a body that doesn't bounce back as easily. I wonder if the college/marriage/family/graduate school model wouldn't be better?

The big news, I guess, is that Hillary Clinton won the New Hampshire primaries, and most of the women's groups are pretty happy about that.

International:Did y'all see this new Always campaign about young women in Africa? I saw the ad on TV, and the website is through the Canadian affiliate. Anyway, it's been well-documented that the lack of access to toilets is a barrier for girls going to school in Africa. This does, then, affect the ability to care for oneself during menstruation. So while I'd like to be more skeptical, I'm totally eating this up.

There is an effort to increase circumcision among boys in developing countries in order to reduce the spread of HIV. Some compare female circumcision to male circumcision, which I think is crap. They do so based on the thought that male circumcision, like female circumcision, takes away from sexual pleasure. Read and weep, jerks.

Regardless, I don't think you should go around circumcising people by force, which is apparently going on in Kenya. One group circumcises, the other doesn't, so to see who your enemies are in this chaotic region, the penis has been a target.

Spanish abortion clinics are on strike. This is in response to increasing anti-activity, including government inspectors. While this will decrease access for many women, I really do admire this. We would have women come into our clinic so ashamed, and disrespectful, and it's just baffling. Not only because so many women have abortions, but because we lived in an anti-choice state, which continuously put forth anti-choice laws. If the women, partners, and families actually voted, protested, whatever, things could be so different.

Science:The mess in Texas over mandating the HPV vaccine has actually been a good thing, as it has piqued the interest of many parents and teens in the state, leading to an increase in vaccination. In other news, the American Cancer Society has a press release on the vaccine (from May 2007) and screening guidelines (on the bottom). The CDC also has guidelines on cervical cancer screenings, in light of the fact that there is an HPV test, which reduces the frequency of screenings for those who have both normal Pap results and a normal HPV test.

Speaking STIs, there's a mutated strain of chlamydia that is causing some serious problems. The article indicates that the problems are in men's rectums, which I guess means this might be somewhat isolated to the gay male population? In any case, LGV seems to be different than the average garden-variety chlamydia which is easily treated with antibiotics.

More news on what hurts you during pregnancy. Not moderate coffee intake, a new study shows. I feel so badly for pregnant women, what with all the physical changes, plus a list a mile long of restrictions on food, behavior, drinks. And it turns out some of it is bunk.

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel has apparently come out against abortions, calling abortion a "grave sin." According to the Torah, the fetus is not a full-fledged person. Interestingly, while the fetus isn't considered a person for the first 40 days, a boy is not a member of Jewish society until he's 8 days old, and a girl at 30 days.

Gender RolesThe Beeb covers the whole Female Chauvinist Pigs thing, asking if flashing is really empowering? The Economist talks about the value of beauty, saying the intelligence may be linked to beauty. ScienceDaily is also running the same information, I think, but a few weeks later.

ScienceGlaxo's cervical cancer vaccine, Cervarix, is on hold for the time being as the FDA has requested more information. Speaking of cervical cancer, the NCI has said that not having a clean margin after cervical surgery raises the risk of recurrence. Which I thought was old news. I thought the point of cancer surgery was to remove as much cancer as possible...no? How we screen for cervical cancer is changing, as we learn more about HPV. Oh, by the way, the AP decided to run a story saying that the cervical cancer vaccine, a shot, hurts. Ground breaking reporting: shots can hurt.

It's a new year, and a new legislative session, not to mention that a whole bunch of laws go into effect this week.

As for me, I'm getting over a cold which had me on the couch watching the History Channel's marathon The History of Sex, which has a few errors in it, but was overall an enjoyable quick tour through the ages. My New Year's resolution is to cut out dairy, and start eating more organic food.

So anyway, what do you need to know for this upcoming year? First, vote (make sure you are registered to vote in your state). Today are the Iowa Caucuses, then the New Hampshire primaries, and February 5th is Super Tuesday. Do I really have to tell you what's at stake (like, Roe)?

So let's talk about local laws:

Virginia will hear about increased penalties for domestic violence offenders and repealing the requirement that women take lie detector tests when they report a rape.

We'll see more about jurisprudence for civilians serving overseas, as more stories like this one come to light. Congressman Poe's office tells me that the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act is the law on the books that would cover this, but many others have said the law is too narrowly crafted to create any kind of legal punishment.

The Times reviews a book on a fertility diet, and not very favorably. I guess people are more interested in fertility, as it seems birth rates are on the rise in the US. The article says that more affluent people are having more children, and calls children a luxury good. I'd be curious to see more about the rates related to income, and if the US has a higher rate of fertility than many other industrialized nations because of our immigration policies.

Schizophrenia may start in utero, and may be linked to maternal diseases like the flu.

ForeignTeen will have access to birth control over the counter in Britain. Meanwhile, South Africa is taking the opposite tactic, and outlawing teens kissing in public. (The actual law, all 80 pages of it, is here as a .pdf. I didn't read it, so I don't know the exact language used.)

You all, I'm sure, have been following the rape case in Saudi Arabia. Slate asks why there isn't more of an uproar over how Saudi (and many other countries) treat women, generally. The article references the huge boycotts of South Africa regarding its policy of apartheid.